


Playmates

by Elysian04



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers
Genre: Auntie Nat, Baby Peter, Cute, Cute Peter Parker, De-Aged Peter, Grandpa Bucky, How Do I Tag, I Tried, Iron Dad, Morgan and Peter are bffs, Uncle Clint, cute giant superfamily, cute kid adventures and mischief, deaged Peter Parker, feel good, grandpa steve, happy stuf, inspired by art by alliando on tumblr, lowkey i dont know how good my writing is, morgan and peter are partners in crime, peters a toddler and I think its cute, steve and buck are called grandpas cuz Tony did it as a joke and now no one can stop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2020-05-15 19:11:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19302025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elysian04/pseuds/Elysian04
Summary: During a surprise attack at Midtown High while Tony explains time travel to the students, masked men and women ambush the school. When Peter springs into action as Spider-Man, they throw him into the time machine, transforming the teen into a toddler again. When they discover the effects cannot be reversed, Peter lives a new life with the Avengers and his new best friend ever, Morgan Stark. (A bunch of kidish adventures that only a superhuman toddler and his partner in crime, a creative genius can get into.)





	1. How Endgame should have ended...

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Really quick, this chapter is about how Endgame could have ended, then the next chapter will be the first chapter of the story, I hope that makes sense! :)  
> (If you want you can skip it lol, don't feel obligated to read it if you don't want to, I just got inspired to write it when I was working on the first chapter of Playmates)

“Wake up!”

  
Peter Parker was shaken awake by Stephen Strange.

  
“Huh? Wha’s going on?” Peter’s eyes flew open, and he looked around wildly before he fully saw Strange.

  
The wizard held out a hand, which Peter gratefully took, and helped the teen up.

  
“Listen Peter, we’ve been-wherever we’ve been-for only five months our time. But see, that five months was five years to Earth time. Somehow, I don’t know how, we’re back. And we have to fight.”

  
As he talked, Strange had walked over to the Guardians of the Galaxy who had appeared not too far from Peter.  
After everyone got themselves situated, Strange turned to them all and gravely said,

  
“Get ready to fight. This may be the battle for humanity.”

  
Peter Quill scoffed, “Drama-queen!” He half-sang, causing Drax to begin laughing very loudly.  
Peter looked to Strange, who was fuming as always. Their time together in the Soul Stone had strengthened Peter and Strange’s relationship, but it tried Strange and the Guardians’.

  
With a snap of his fingers, Strange quieted down the group.  
“I am serious. Now shut up and prepare to fight for your lives.”  
Strange waited a moment to let that grim truth set in, and Peter felt the anticipation and nerves building inside him.

  
Then, after a moment of somber silence where everyone on Titan mourned the possible loss of their lives, Strange opened a portal, and they walked onto the battlefield.

  
-

  
Peter had no idea what was going on.

  
He was running through the massive amount of attacking heroes, doing his best to take down as many attacking aliens as he could.  
He was breathing hard and fast, adrenaline coursing through his veins when he had to take a breather. He ran off to the side and tried to ignore screams in the distance, trying desperately to block out the sounds of battle.

  
He looked up, ready to go back out into the fight, when he saw a huge alien walking up to some poor unconscious person.  
Peter flicked his wrists and sent webs flying at the alien’s back as he watched it raise a massive fist to ‘finish the job’ Peter assumed.  
He pulled himself towards the thing, and wrestled it to the ground before knocking it out and sending it flying into the raging battle.  
Peter then rushed to see if the victim was okay, feeling his breath catch in his throat.

  
“Mr. Stark?”

  
Tony’s eyes fluttered open and Peter stuck out a hand, helping him to his feet.

  
“Mr. Stark!”

  
Tony’s eyes were wide open in shock, the kid, his kid, was back.

  
Peter began to ramble, going on about what had happened to him,  
“Do you remember when we were in space? And I must have passed out, because I woke up in someplace new and you were gone, and then Mr. Strange tried to get us back but nothing was working and we were stuck in this glowy world and I talked to the Guardians of the Galaxy, remember those other guys with us in space? That’s them, and-“

  
Tony stepped forward and pulled Peter into a hug.

  
“What are you-?”

  
Peter was confused only for a moment before he sank into the hug.

  
"Oh, this is nice."

  
Tony just held him tighter.

  
Putting his hands on Peter’s shoulders, Tony held him at arm's length, just taking in the fact that Peter was back.

  
“Listen Kid, I can't lose you again. So you’re gonna have to save the story for another time. But right now, your objective is not dying.”  
Peter nodded, and they hugged one last time before Tony flew off, and Peter webbed away.

  
-

They had been fighting for maybe two hours when Peter took the Infinity Gauntlet from T’Challa.

  
He flew through the air on his webs and landed on the ground only to be swarmed by angry aliens.  
Karen’s familiar voice piped up at this moment, “Do you want me to activate Instant Kill, Peter?”

  
“Yeah, Karen! You do that please!”

  
With the Instant Kill taking care of most of the enemies, Peter thought he could handle the barrage of bloodthirsty bad guys, but he was already getting tired, and the attacks kept coming.

  
“Help over here! Uh-can someone help me out?!”

  
He was starting to be pushed down by the aliens, and some of his mechanical spider legs were being torn off by the mob.  
He couldn’t hear if anyone had responded, or even heard, his call for help.  
The screams and battle cries around him were so loud, and Peter didn’t really know what he was supposed to do now. He couldn’t handle all these guys, and he didn’t know if help was coming or not. He held the Gauntlet tighter and screwed his eyes shut.

  
Suddenly, there was the familiar sound of repulsors and a blast was fired into the crowd of aliens all around Peter. The blast was far enough from him so he wasn’t harmed, but close enough to the group that the aliens began retreating.

  
Opening his eyes and expecting to see Tony, Peter was pleasantly surprised to see Pepper Potts, clad in her own Iron woman armor.  
Before Peter could say hello, she picked him up and flew upwards so that they wouldn’t be swarmed again.

  
“I got you kid,” she said, smiling at him before dropping him on a _flying horse_.

  
Still gripping the Gauntlet with all his might, Peter yelled, “Hi nice to meet you-!”

  
The momentum of the creature flying forward nearly sent Peter flying off.  
He screamed and held onto the woman in front of him, who laughed, skillfully guiding the animal.

  
“Never been flying like this eh?” She yelled over the wind.

  
“No, but it’s awesome!”

  
Before they could carry on any kind of conversation, a blast from the right knocked Peter off the Pegasus. His spider limbs caught him and helped to cushion the fall, but the impact destroyed them.

  
He was curled up on the ground, clutching the Gauntlet as shots rained down like hellfire from Thanos’ giant ship.  
Peter thought this was it. He was trying to protect his face and, well everything. Curled up into a ball with the Gauntlet in front of his face, he waited for it all to end.

  
And it did.

The shots of fire ceased to crash into the Earth, momentarily, even the sounds of war left the battlefield.

  
Peter peeked over the huge Gauntlet and saw a glowing woman with a killer haircut standing in front of him, looking down with a hint of concern.

  
“H-hi. I’m Peter Parker.”

  
He held out a timid hand for her to shake. She looked like a good guy, Peter thought.

  
She smiled and grabbed Peter’s hand, pulling him to his feet rather than introducing herself.

  
“Hi Peter Parker.” She smiled warmly, “got something for me?”

  
Peter nodded, just wanting everything to be over already. He wanted to spend time with Mr. Stark, and Ned, and MJ, and-he just wanted everything to be normal again.

  
The woman took the Gauntlet from him and whispered, “You’re doing a great job, I promise we’ve almost got him.”

  
Peter smiled a little, but it soon fell as he saw the insane army still waiting for them, teeth bared and ready to fight.

  
“I don’t know how you’re going to get through all that-“ he said weakly.  
Peter felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Pepper Potts, repulsors charged up and ready to go.  
“Don’t worry,”  
More hero’s emerged from around them,  
“She’s got help.”

  
Peter watched as an army of superwomen rose up and ran headlong into the army, fighting to get the Gauntlet to Scott Lang’s time machine car.  
As he witnessed history, Peter tried to capture the moment in full. He knew MJ would want to hear everything about this in insane detail.

-

He, along with a lot of other heroes, simply stood back, took a breather, and watched in awe as the women plowed through hundreds of soldiers.  
He rushed forward to help where he could, and from a distance saw the glowy lady get hit. She fell, along with the Gauntlet.  
Peter watched as the Gauntlet hit the ground, and he looked for the glowy lady, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw she was okay, she had been hit but recovered mid-fall.

 

The Gauntlet was still lying, unattended in the middle of a battlefield though. And Peter wasn't the only one with eyes on the prize.

  
Thanos was already running, as was Tony. They arrived at the same time, and Peter watched in horror as Thanos sent Tony flying with a single punch.

  
Thor was right behind Tony though and was able to fight Thanos off for a bit before Cap joined the fray.  
From Peter’s spot behind a rather large piece of rubble, he watched as his heroes fought. Keeping an eye on Tony, Peter began to creep towards Iron Man, wanting to help if he could, but honestly kind of scared to fight Thanos again, recalling his last encounter with the titan and holding back a shudder.

  
As he made his way towards Tony, Thanos threw both Captain America _and_ Thor off of him. They fell to the ground, motionless.

  
Peter froze, he was close by, close enough to help-

  
Thankfully, the teen didn’t have to fight because Captain Marvel had flown in and was fighting for the Gauntlet with all her might.  
Thanos had the weapon in his hands, but Captain Marvel was doing an excellent job of keeping the Titans hands where she could see them, and she made sure he didn’t put the Gauntlet on.

  
Peter took his chance and began running towards Tony.

  
As he ran, Carol was also sent flying.

  
All of a sudden, Thanos was winning and humanity wasn’t.

  
Peter was still trying to get to Tony, and he saw the man struggle to his feet.  
Tony rushed forward, and Peter could only stare as Tony fought Thanos.  
He watched, transfixed, as Tony took the stones and knocked the titan to the ground.

  
Thanos hadn’t noticed the trickery yet, and Tony was preparing to snap his own fingers. Peter heard a rush of footsteps behind him and saw the Guardians running towards Tony as fast as they could.

  
Peter Quill yelled out, “Take my hand!”

  
He ran up to Tony and grabbed one of his hands. Tony looked incredibly confused and slightly annoyed, but Quill explained it all in one breath.

  
“Look man, the power’s too much for one person, you can evenly distribute it with more people. The spider kid is getting more.”

  
Sure enough, Peter Parker was screaming for people to come help.

  
Everyone was linking arms or holding hands, and in the meantime, Carol has regained consciousness and had Thanos pinned down.

  
“Do it!” She yelled, still struggling to keep Thanos in line.

  
Tony looked Thanos right in his eyes and willed away the ugly purple Titan in front of him, along with the massive invading army.  
And just like that, Tony snapped his fingers.

  
He felt a massive amount of energy surge through his right arm. It took nearly all his willpower not to scream out in pain.  
His entire right arm felt like it was on fire, he heard Friday say something about severe burns, but Tony’s hearing had faded out for the moment.  
Thankfully, the pain was short-lived. Tony only had to endure the full power of the Stones for a few seconds, then the power began to distribute itself through the massive line of people.  
He felt Peter Quill’s hand tighten around his own, and looked to see nearly every fighter present that day lined up linking arms or hands, all taking a hit for the team-for Tony.

  
Ever the logical mind, the man noticed that the closer people were to him, the more affected they were to the stones’ power.  
He felt his blood run cold as he noticed Peter Quill and Peter Parker were holding hands. There was only one person between Tony and the kid.  
The younger Peter’s face was screwed up in slight pain from the energy of the stones.

  
Steve, who was two people down from Peter, noticed this too, and told Sam and Bucky to slowly let Steve leave the chain without breaking it.  
After managing to do that, Steve ran up to the Peter’s and put a hand on both of their shoulders, putting himself in front of Peter P so the kid wouldn’t have to endure as much power.

  
Tony reminded himself to thank Steve for that later.

  
But for now, Tony ignored the pain and enjoyed watching the entirety of Thanos’ army dissolve into dust.  
Then, the big purple grape, as Tony had heard Peter P refer to Thanos as, began to dissolve too.  
Tony smiled triumphantly as he watched Thanos dissolve into dust, slowly blending in with the soil beneath him.  
Just as Thanos was gone completely, Tony sank to the ground and ripped the Gauntlet off.  
He was panting, the energy surge having drained him. The other heroes were sharing similar symptoms, nearly everyone within around 10 people of Tony were on the ground just like him, looking like they had just run a marathon.  
Tony let himself rest for a moment, before struggling to his feet and making his way to Peter and Pepper.

-

Nearly a week had passed and Tony was still in the infirmary along with Peter Quill, Steve, Peter Parker, Dr. Strange, Rocket, and Bucky.  
Tony’s arm was busted, the damage from the stones left it shriveled and practically dead.  
He had it amputated and was planning on making himself a new one once he was back on his feet.  
However, once Wakanda became aware that Tony lost his arm, Shuri threw herself into the task of creating a new one.

  
She made it as realistic as possible, using Wakandan technology to replicate skin and muscle cells. In the end, the arm looked terrifyingly realistic, and felt like it too.

  
Shuri has visited the infirmary with her brother not only to check up on everyone but to thank Tony and the others for fighting so hard and for risking their lives so much.  
Shuri had given Tony the arm, wrapped in a box like a present, and when he saw it he beamed.

  
A few days after the new arm was installed, Tony was released along with the others.

(Coolio, also side note, Nat and Loki are both saved by Steve when he goes back in time to reset the stones, he catches Nat before she falls, taking her back with him, and then later goes on another time trip with Thor and they both discover Loki  _did_ indeed fake his own death but would have still died in space after the ship was destroyed, so they took him back too.)


	2. Chapter 1, Peter deaged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During an attack on Midtown High, Peter is deaged and turns into a toddler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! First chapter of Playmates!! Yay!! :D  
> Tell me what you think, and if I can change any formatting stuff or anything to make it easier to read (as I said before, I've never used AO3 before, so this is all new to me)  
> Enjoy!!

After the big battle at the Avengers Compound, the world was different.

Everyone who had been snapped practically lost five years of their lives.  The rest of the world had moved on, and so the result was that most kids coming back fell into depression, or they were at the very least sad, mourning the losses of friendships, girlfriends, boyfriends, family members who passed within those five long years. 

The rest of Peter’s class who had just recently come back from the Snap had been a little too sad and too  _changed._

The school had taken notice, just like all the other schools and corporations around the globe had.

Humanity had won yes, but at the same time, half of humanity had lost.

As a result of that, Midtown High, along with other high schools and such, had planned fundraisers, activities, and parties to try getting the Snapped kids’ spirits up.

Today was the second day of ‘Staying positive!’ And Peter was _pumped_.

The day before yesterday he had been talking to Tony, and the older man had let something slip.

As Peter was about to leave Tony’s house after visiting him, Morgan, and Pepper, Tony had called out, “See you on Tuesday kid!”

Peter had shot him a puzzled look, to which Tony responded to with slapping a hand over his mouth and yelling out, “I never said anything! Forget what I said! Don’t tell Pepper, it was gonna be a surprise.”

Now, on Tuesday, Peter was dying to know when he would be seeing Mister Stark.

He hadn’t told anyone else, aware that it was meant to be a surprise, and so Ned was very concerned when the faculty announced a ‘surprise speaker’ and Peter made a noise that could only be described as a strangled squeal.

As they filed into the gym for the assembly, they were greeted with a breeze coming from the large open garage doors on the far wall of the gym. Once the whole Snapped Squad (as the teens had begun calling themselves) was seated, their principal and (recently employed) army of school counselors and therapists began their speech of why staying positive would help save them all.

Most teens blocked this out, more interested as to why the garage doors were open.

Peter and his friends were part of the ‘blocking out the speech’ group, instead choosing to play a giant three-way Rock Paper Scissors game.

Once the speech was over, the principal spoke into the microphone, gaining the attention of the Snapped Squad.

“Now boys and girls, I want you to give our speaker all your attention, he is a very busy man and has graciously given his time to us. I know all of you are smart, and so I hope you pay attention and possibly learn something. With that in mind, let’s give a warm welcome to Tony Stark!”

To say the bleachers full of teenagers _exploded_ with cheers and shrieks would be an understatement.

After the principal announced him, Tony made his entrance by driving into the gym in a red Tesla with golden accents (Elon Musk’s personal thank you to Tony for helping save the world) His car was pulling another car behind him, a gross old brown van with a bunch of wires trailing out the back.

Tony waited for the students to contain themselves before he laughed into the mic, “That was a very warm welcome, thanks guys. So, I’m here to talk about a bunch of stuff, firstly, I know what you’re all going through.”

A somber hush fell over the crowd, Tony’s unusual display of such seriousness caught the attention of the teens.

Tony talked for a while, each student hanging onto every one of his words with the rapt attention teachers could only dream of having.

Peter was beaming, sitting on the edge of his seat and listening closely to what Tony had to say.

After his speech about battling PTSD, anxiety, depression, and various stages of grief, Tony clapped his hands together.

“I’m aware I just told all of you to keep hope and stay positive and stuff, but that whole topic is still kinda depressing, so let’s get into the fun stuff!”

He pressed a button on his phone and his Tesla maneuvered itself so that the ugly brown van’s back was facing the crowd.

“Now this might look like a shitty-er, right sorry PG audience here, a _crappy_ van, but this thing is what saved all your a- _butts_.” Tony made a face and apologized to the slew of faculty trying to non verbally tell him to stop swearing.

“Right, so this puppy saved us all, or it at least helped _me_ to figure out time travel in order to save you all. Without it, you guys wouldn’t be here.”

There was a stony silence as that reality set in, and Peter caught Tony looking directly at him, eyes shining slightly.

“Anyway,” Tony cleared his throat and continued. “So this is a real-life time machine,” the crowd of adolescents oohed and aahed.

“Now I won’t explain it all because all you kids are actually super smart, and if I told you in detail how it works there would be teenagers going back in time and bringing back a dinosaur, claiming we really _should_ make a Jurassic World theme park, or some other weird crap.”

“But I can show you some funny footage of how this worked before _I_ stepped in to help. This is exclusive never-before-seen footage of Brulk, _the_ Captain America, and Ant-Man, please enjoy, feel free to film it and spread it everywhere you possibly can-“

Tony pressed a button and a large projector descended from the ceiling, beginning to play some security footage, now colorized and with audio (because of course Tony Stark’s security system is that good)

Peter and his fellow Snapped students watched as Scott Lang went into the time machine and came back as a kid, then an old man, a baby, and finally back to normal.

They laughed at Captain America’s concern and ‘mother henning’. 

Tony’s humor with spreading the video worked wonders, Peter was seeing his usually melancholy classmates smile genuinely for the first time since the Snap. Of course, it wasn’t an automatic recovery, but it was a baby step in the right direction.

After the video, Tony began explaining the time travel, throwing in the story of how his daughter had come downstairs when he figured it out, repeating ‘shit’ after him.

The students loved it, though the faculty chastised Tony for swearing yet again.

Peter was smiling so much his cheeks hurt, he saw Tony catch his eye and wink at him.

Merely seconds after they made eye contact, the wall where Tony entered the gym exploded.

There was screaming, and the gym which had been pristine and clean was now covered in grey dust and bits of cinderblock.

Tony was yelling for everyone to evacuate, his suit already on and repulsors aimed at the wall, scanning for the source of the explosion.

As everyone ran for cover, Peter nodded to NEd and slipped off to the side, double tapping a woven bracelet on his left wrist just like Tony had shown him.

Immediately the Iron Spider suit covered him, and the mask materialized before his eyes.

He sprung into action, swinging into the gym and landing lightly next to Iron Man.

“How was the speech so far? Am I boring? Did I make too many jokes?”

Peter laughed, “No mister Stark, you were doing perfectly!” He threw a thumbs up Tony’s way and was promptly thrown across the room by another small explosion.

“Hey! Look I know gym sucks but this is too far!” He quipped, jumping back onto his feet and staring down the culprit.

The man standing before him was wearing a children’s Halloween costume mask of Iron Man and had grenades strapped to his chest.

Peter stood up and looked from the villain to Iron Man and back again, “Heyyy.”

Tony flew over, repulsors charged and aimed at the culprit. “Imitation is the best form of flattery.” He said.

Peter saw his chance and took it, yelling, “Identity theft is not a joke Jim! Millions of families suffer-!”

Again, Peter was knocked off his feet during a jest and he whined about not being able to finish a joke.

”What? You got a problem with The Office?”

Two more villains entered the gym, both donning cheap Iron Man masks like the other man.

One, a female, lunged for Peter, the other two went for Tony.

As they fought, even _more_ masked men and women rushed in, they did so slowly so that Tony and Peter became overwhelmed by the onslaught of fighters.

Soon, Tony was pinned to the wall by maybe ten men and women, while Peter was similarly pinned.

One of the main men, the only one wearing a Spider-Man mask, leaned down and got close to Peter’s ear, his voice was raspy and sounded like that of a smoker’s.

“You. Spider-Man. Are a disgrace and a menace.”

A shrill-voiced woman popped up next to the man, she traced a long brightly colored fingernail across Peter’s masked face.

“Time to end Spider-Man. We’ll make you an old man on his last dying breath so we can all watch you _crumble_.

With that, a large number of masked villains lifted Peter up and dragged him towards the time machine.

Tony was struggling against everyone holding him down, he was so strong in his wish to save his kid that half of Peter’s group needed to restrain the billionaire.

The group lifted Peter up and tossed him into the time machine, one of the goons hitting a few buttons to channel time through Peter just how it had gone through Scott Lang.

Peter popped out as a little boy, disappearing in his now too large civilian clothes.

Just as the goons cursed that it didn’t work as planned, the entire Avengers force came to the rescue.

Within minutes the villains were restrained.

All but one.

He, the one wearing the Spider-Man mask. The leader, was standing in front of the small Peter Parker, instead of throttling the kid like everyone feared he would, the man prepared to throw a grenade into the time machine, which would effectively blow it to bits.

Tony screamed, terror running through him and making his blood run cold.

Just a second before the grenade was thrown, Natasha sprinted over and slid on her knees, scooping up the toddler, covering him in his bigger self’s shirt, and sliding/running to safety.

Then, the van blew up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Tell me what you think if you'd like, I hope you enjoyed it :D  
> Have fun on the internet peeps!


	3. Chapter 2: Arriving Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers bring Peter to the Compound, there, they explain everything to May, and hang out with Peter a bit.

Then, the van blew up. 

Rubble flew through the air, rocks hurtling towards The Avengers and the now much smaller Spider-Man. 

Natasha barked out orders to the men around her, carefully cradling Peter in her arms. 

“Tony, Steve, Bruce! Shield!”

They all sprang into action, Tony’s arm clicked, and a huge shield emerged, Brulk turned around and shielded Natasha, Clint, and little Peter with his body, while Cap held up his own shield up alongside Tony to protect the group as a whole. 

Once the dust settled, everyone came to realize just how dumb these so-called villains were. All of them, save one, were knocked out on the floor, large pieces of rubble having hit them in the head. 

Almost as soon as the dust had cleared, Tony and Steve had their weapons fixed on the masked men and women. 

Police sirens wailed in the background, getting louder with every passing moment.

Tony, who was absolutely _furious_ , stalked up to the man hidden behind the Spider-Man mask. 

“What did you do?” He hissed, enunciating every word slowly and menacingly, inches from the Spider-Man faced goon. 

The man only laughed, choking and wheezing, staring up into Tony’s rage-contorted face.

“I did what I had to do, can’t have that weirdo bastard around to-argh!”

Tony punched him in the face, his index finger prodding violently into the man’s chest. 

“You’re going to regret that. You’re going to regret all of this. For what you did to _him_.”

Natasha, seeing the situation quickly escalating, passed the small, scared Peter to Clint. 

She rushed over and yanked Tony back from the guy, replacing his face with hers. 

With a fistful of his dirty shirt in her hand, she yanked his head up and brought her lips real close. 

“You really fucked up. This is bad for you. Real bad.” Her voice dropped to a spine-chilling whisper, “Now, you’re going to watch your back if you know what’s good for you. Understand?” 

The man nodded, now terrified. Sweat dripped down his face and he gulped before Nat dropped him, his head hitting the ground hard. Everyone in the vicinity winced, save Natasha. Clint covered Peter’s eyes and ears so he didn’t hear the sickening _thunk_ of skull against wood. 

Before she left, Natasha punched the guy in the jaw, making sure he was out before standing and calmly suggesting they survey the damage. 

In mere minutes, the cops arrived and all the masked attackers were sent to the station in an army of cop cars, Brulk and Steve handled the situation, explaining to the cops what had happened, and assisting in throwing the guys into cars and cuffs. 

Tony walked over to Clint and took Peter into his own arms. 

Now, everyone got a real look at the kid, having been much too distracted from _not dying_ in the past fifteen or so minutes. 

Peter was small, Natasha guessed he was around two, though Clint thought three was the golden number. He had a full head of soft, brown curls that framed his chubby little face, they matched his big brown eyes. 

When he shrank, his clothes didn’t shrink with him, so he was using his old shirt as a blanket. Clint and Natasha had each tried wrapping him up so he was covered, but Peter continued to shrug off the fabric. 

He was squirming in Tony’s arms, grabbing fistfuls of his bigger self’s plaid shirt and blue sweater and snuggling into them and Tony. 

The man stared down in awe at the little boy in his arms, his mouth was slightly agape as he gazed down at Peter, being reminded of his own Morgan at home. 

Natasha laid a hand on Tony’s arm. “Hey, we should get out of here before the press arrive.” 

Tony nodded, cooing at Peter and wrapping him in the soft clothes, careful to make sure he was comfortable before smiling and saying, “Hey Petey, you wanna fly like a superhero?” Peter laughed and Tony practically melted on the spot.

All the Avengers shared a look, knowing full well that if no one stopped him, Tony _would_ fly off with the toddler. 

Clint was the one who drew the short straw and was pushed forward by the others. 

“Hey Tony, let’s _not_ take the toddler flying, kay?”

Tony looked a bit deflated, but he agreed. 

Once everyone was settled in the car that Tony called to pick them up in, Clint took Peter and sat him on his lap, letting the kid play around with the different straps and pockets of his uniform. Clint smiled as Peter put one of his small hands into his own large, callused one, playing with Clint’s fingers.

Everyone kind of just watched Peter explore and play around. The kid was quite distracting. 

Steve nudged Tony, “We should probably tell his aunt about this.”

Tony paled a bit, “Yeah. Yeah, we should…”

He pulled out his phone and dialed May’s number. 

“Hey May, uh, listen, you’re aware that Peter is Spider-Man, and that the job is dangerous-“

At his name, Peter looked up. The kid watched with big brown eyes as Tony jumped and held his phone an arms length away from his ear, everyone in the car hearing May’s shrill voice clearly over the phone. 

“-what happened? Is he alright? Where is he? Tony Stark I swear to god I’ll kill you if he’s hurt bad. Where is he now? When can I see him? Is he there now? Peter! Baby, can you hear me? Are you okay?!”

Peter’s small face lit up upon hearing May’s voice over the phone.

“May!”

Peter’s voice was soft, but also somehow very loud. He looked at the phone excitedly, leaning forward in Clint’s lap, so much so, that the older man had to wrap an arm around the kid so he didn’t fall off. 

“Is that Peter? That sounds like him when he was a baby! STARK WHAT DID YOU DO!” 

When she raised her voice, little Peter’s expression changed. He whimpered and his bottom lip began to wobble. 

Clint, being a dad himself, sensed a meltdown or at least crying, probably due to the yelling. So he held one of Peter’s chubby hands in his own and turned the kid around, signing to Tony to turn off the volume or calm May down. 

He then snagged Steve’s shield and turned Peter around so he was facing Clint and the window. Setting the shield in front of them, Clint slapped it like a drum, and Peter’s teary eyes were directed towards the sound. 

Once Peter was effectively distracted and had forgotten the yelling, Clint and the others breathed a sigh of relief. 

Now they just had the wonderful sound of a small, excited child slapping a metal surface repeatedly to relax to. 

Tony resumed his call. 

“Okay look May, I can explain it all but it’s a little hard to grasp I assume, so why don’t you head over to the Compound, Happy’ll pick you up at the front, and you can see for yourself what happened. I can explain too so-“

Tony paused, listening to May, “Yeah, he’s not hurt just-let me explain.”

Tony stood up and began pacing while he started the long, tedious and frustrating task of explaining that May’s nephew was now a toddler again, and that no, he was not hurt, no, we don’t know if he’s got his memories, no, he’s not scared.”

Meanwhile, Peter was fussing with Clint, apparently bored already of him, and was now leaning over towards Natasha. 

She smiled (something that unnerved the others, but was somehow comforting too) and she picked him up, lightly tickling his tummy and letting him play with her hair. 

“Red.”

Nat smiled. “Yeah, my hair’s red, good eye Peter.”

They arrived at the compound shortly after, and Tony was still on the phone, now with some of his workers and builders, telling them they now found a purpose for that empty space on floor 37. 

 

*

 

The heroes arrived at the Avengers Compound with a sleepy (and therefore cranky) Peter. 

Tony was the one carrying Peter now, having been ‘chosen’ by the tot while in the car. 

The group began to head to the medical deck to see if Peter was alright, and to figure out what actual age he was. 

May, of course, was waiting anxiously outside the med bay, Happy having told her that Tony and Peter would be arriving down there as soon as possible. 

When she saw Tony, she ran up to him, angry tears in her eyes. 

“What do you have to show me? Why can’t I see Peter! Where is he?!” She was frantically looking in the small crowd of heros for her nephew, then back to Tony. 

Her eyes landed on little Peter, who was covered head to toe in his bigger self’s clothes. To May, Tony was simply holding onto Peter’s clothes, not actually holding _Peter._

She made a strangled noise and whispered, horrified, “Did-did he get dusted again? Oh no no no no no this can’t be happening-“ 

Steve was there in an instant, a calming hand on May’s shoulder and soft, kind words to help her come down from her hysteria. Tony carefully undid the swaddle of blankets so that Peter’s small chubby face was showing. 

May, once she composed herself, gasped and looked down at the little boy in front of her. 

“Peter-?” She breathed, automatically taking him into her arms. 

“May!” Peter yelled, looking up at May and snuggling into her arms. 

She looked up slowly at the Avengers, her face blank with shock and slight confusion. 

“What the hell happened?”

 

*

 

It took May an entire day to fully understand what had happened. Tony had told her that there really wasn’t a safe way to turn him back just yet. “That machine in the van was unique. It was the only one of its kind. The guy who made it is gone, and I never got the chance to really look at it so I don’t even have notes on it.” 

She had put her face in her hands and looked over at Peter, who was sitting babbling on the floor with Natasha laid down next to him. 

“And there’s no way you can just use the time machine you have?” 

Tony sighed, “No we can’t for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Peter’s a toddler now, and he doesn’t know how to control the machinery to go back in time like we did, and even if he did, there’s too much risk that he gets lost in time or something. And secondly, we don’t have any more pym particles.”

“Those are the things that make it work right?”

“Yeah.” It was Tony’s turn to look to Peter, now being given a piggyback ride by Steve. 

“At least we can raise him in a good family again,” Tony said. “But god, I’m gonna miss that kid. The big one.” 

May felt a tear fall down her cheek, and she saw tears in Tony’s eyes too. 

The man cleared his throat and quickly swiped at his eyes. “Peter’s examination is tomorrow, we’ll figure out how old he is, how healthy he is, and if he’s got his spider powers-“

“TONY!” 

The man in question whipped around to see Peter _on the ceiling_. 

“Oh my god!”

May was terrified, thankfully the ceiling was standard height (unusual for the Compound) and actual superheroes were waiting to catch the small wall-crawler. 

Peter shrieked with laughter, his hands sticking to the ceiling and his feet too, he got up the way toddlers do, putting his feet flat on the ground, -er, _ceiling_ and pushing with his hands until he was upright. 

The adults gasped, terrified he’d fall. May was covering her eyes, and every hero in the room was circling the toddler, yelling “I got him! I got him” and “Peter honey please get down we’ll catch you!” 

In response Peter just giggled, and, being a toddler and all, he was prone to falling when standing up. 

And so, one foot popped off the ceiling, then the other, and Peter came tumbling down. 

The ball of curly brown hair and giggles landed safely in Steve’s arms. 

Tony was white-faced. “I guess he’s got his powers still.” He said weakly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAHHH omg thank you guys so much for commenting and leaving kudos, I swear it makes me smile so much every time! I got this chapter out a bit later than I wanted to, I was gonna put it up last night, but I decided to read it through one more time and ended up making a lot of changes so it sounded better, Thanks for reading!! I promise the next chapter will be out before the end of this week! :D


	4. Chapter 3, Meeting New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets Morgan and its wholesome

Peter was sitting on Dr. Helen Cho’s examination table, being looked over by the doctor. 

“Well,” she straightened up from where she had been checking his heartbeat. “He’s around three and a half, his vitals are just fine, no sickness or any abnormalities. He’s a healthy little kid.” She smiled down at him and lightly booped his nose. 

Tony gave a sigh of relief, “And what about his mind, have we figured out if he’s got his old memories or not?”

Helen showed Tony the brain scans, “He’s got some memories from when he was bigger, like how he remembered you all and May, but his reactions and impulses are that of a three and a half year old.”

“He’s also going to forget those memories. They’ll probably be replaced with newer ones, so right now he might remember how to solve an algebra equation, but he’ll probably forget that in a week or so.”

Tony nodded. 

“Okay cool, thanks Helen.”

Tony scooped up Peter and carried him to his new room. 

They walked into the large nursery, Tony reminding himself to thank the builders for doing such a fabulous job. 

The walls were light sky blue with red accents. Little Avengers decals littered the walls, their places having been chosen by the toddler himself. 

Right above his head on the top bunk of his bunk bed were glow in the dark stars, hand painted by Brulk. There was a small iron man decal right above his headboard, with a Captain America one next to the other. 

The floor was half hardwood, half a foam playmat. The playmat was brightly colored puzzle pieces connected together. Atop the play foam were toys. Boxes and boxes of toys. 

Tony didn’t want to spoil Peter, but he couldn’t help it. Out of the massive amount of toys, Peter’s favorites were a Bucky bear (a popular toy now that Bucky was confirmed  _ not _ a super villain), an Iron Man plush, a small ballerina toy Natasha gave him, a miniature shield like Cap’s, more kid-sized gear from Hawkeye, Thor, and Iron Man, and of course, his Spider-Man costume.

-

It had only been two days since Peter was deaged, and no one had any clue as to what they should tell the school and Peter’s friends about what had happened to Peter. Not to mention what to do about Spider-Man being out of commission. 

-

Ned Leeds had been coming over to see Peter, convinced that he was at the Compound. 

Today was the day Tony got tired of hearing the teen asking nervously what had happened to his best friend, where he was, and if he was alright. 

And so, Tony had buzzed him in, met him in the lobby, and quietly and calmly explained the situation. 

“So Peter’s a baby?” Ned’s mouth was hanging open in disbelief. 

“Yeah. You can see him, he might remember you a little. His memories transferred but they’ll fade as he makes new ones. So like, he could recognize his aunt, and us.”

Ned nodded, following Tony as they entered the main ‘hangout’ floor, which now housed Peter’s nursery in the far left corner. 

The living room ceiling was tall, maybe about two floors high, and so Peter’s nursery had been constructed so that the ceiling was a standard height (hello, wall crawling toddler).

This made the nursery look just like it was a smaller room nestled into a much larger one, almost like a playhouse, but a lot more elaborate.

The outside of Peter’s nursery was decorated to look like a little toy store. There was a storefront with windows storing Pete’s toys, a door with a little bell, (so that they knew if Peter somehow got out of his room) and the words “Peter’s Toy Shop” written above the door. 

Ned’s mouth again fell open. 

“Yeah, you like it? I was gonna do the same for Morgan, my daughter, but Pepper convinced me to wait until we knew what she’d like. Now her room here at the compound is a miniature spy lab.”

“This is awesome.”

Tony pushed open the door, Peter jumping up from his spot on the play foam. He abandoned Steve with the toys and ran towards the visitors. 

“Hi daddy! Hi Ned!” 

Tony felt something in his heart tugging when Peter called him his daddy. His lips were pressed in a thin line and he felt his throat go tight. The whole situation reminded him of Morgan’s first word, ‘Mommy’. But now, it was  _ his _ name being spoken by a kid. 

He looked to Steve for an explanation. The man simply held up a children’s book titled  _ Who is daddy? _

Ned, unaware of the emotion coursing through Tony at the moment, yelled, “Peter!”

The little kid ran up and jumped onto the teen. 

“Bear hug!”

Ned laughed and squeezed Peter back. He looked up to Steve and half jokingly, half seriously, saluted him. 

Steve laughed as well, “No need to salute kid, I’m off duty.” 

Ned laughed nervously before he was violently pulled by Peter towards his toys. 

The kid still had super strength after all. 

-

Ned stayed for maybe two hours, he left once Peter had to take a nap. 

“Thanks for letting me see him. Is he gonna be like that forever now? Like, will he have to grow up again?” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah, we still don’t know what to tell people. Because with both Peter and Spider-Man gone, people have the potential to find out his identity.”

Ned nodded solemnly. 

“Thanks again for letting me visit Mr. Stark.” 

-

Once Ned was gone, Tony went to the couches and plopped down next to Steve. 

“Hey Tony.”

“Heya Steve-o.”

They sat in silence for a moment,

“Hey Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“What was that book you were reading to Peter?”

Steve smiled, “It was some book about what dads are like. Y’know, kidish stuff like ‘your dad is the guy who loves you’, or ‘your dad gives big hugs’. Stuff like that.”

Tony smiled too, “But why did he call  _ me _ his dad?”

Steve chuckled, “He figures you can have as many moms and dads as you want. He called me dad, and when Clint came in to give him a snack, he was called dad too. I’d bet a hundred bucks he’ll call Nat mom.”

“That’s preposterous.”

Steve looked at Tony, a little taken aback, “What do you mean?”

“You’re not his dad, you’re his grandpa.”

Steve stared at Tony, the other man desperately trying to keep a straight face. Eventually, their little staring contest became two grown men laughing their asses off at one another.

Later in the night as Tony got in bed to sleep, he dwelled on the fact that Peter considered him worthy enough of the title of Dad.

He felt something warm in the pit of his stomach. 

Man, that kid was somethin. 

-

On day three of toddler Peter, Morgan came to visit. She was four herself, and  _ loved _ going to the Compound. 

Walking in with her dad, her rubber rain boots squeaked against the floor as she skipped into the living room area. 

Her big brown eyes were immediately drawn to the toy shop themed room across the way. 

“Daddy! Did’ya buy a toy store? Did’ya did’ya did’ya?”

She was jumping up and down now, pulling on Tony's arm, and her shrieks of delight traveled across the room, causing the other lounging heroes to turn their heads and smile. 

It also drew a certain three year old from his playroom, another certain metal-armed man following the toddler. 

Morgan ceased her screams of delight, instead taking one look at Peter and promptly turning to her dad. 

“Can I play?” She asked, bouncing with excitement. 

“Sure kiddo.” Next thing he knew, a small unicorn backpack was thrown in his face, and Morgan’s pink rain boots were yet again squeaking against the floor as she ran towards the playroom. 

-

“Hiya! I’m Morgan.”

Peter was hiding behind Bucky, poking his head out from behind the super soldier’s leg. 

“...Hiya.”

Morgan beamed, showing off her kidish smile. 

“What’s your name?”

Peter looked up to Bucky, who shrugged. 

“I’m Peter.” He stepped out from behind Bucky’s leg, still holding onto a fistful of the man’s sweatpants. 

“Cool!” Morgan remembered her manners, and although she desperately wanted to explore the room before her, she stood there and twisted around in half circles, letting her yellow bumblebee tutu twirl about. 

Peter shyly asked if she would want to play with him, and the two kids hit it off instantly. 

Bucky watched from the doorway for a little bit, and once he was convinced they wouldn’t blow up the building, he let them play, asking Friday to keep an eye on them anyway. 

-

Peter ran to one corner of his room, a blue blanket tied around his neck like a cape, a mask made with colored paper and markers was taped securely to his face. 

Morgan was on the opposite side of the room, a black blanket draped over her like a dress and part of ‘Black Widow’s Ultra Spy Kit’ in her hands. She pulled on a pair of black fingerless gloves with the Black Widow symbol embellished on them, and a black and red laser gun in her right hand. 

“Hand over the money!” She yelled, pointing the laser gun at Peter. 

He shook his head, “You’ll never get the treasure Killer Queen!” He protectively wrapped his little arms around a fake treasure chest. 

“Then you will feel the wrath of my might and power!” 

Morgan twirled around, letting the long black blanket flow around her. 

She pointed the laser gun just how she had seen all the superheroes and super villains do on tv. 

Slowly, she straightened her arm and pulled the trigger. 

The toy gun lit up with red LEDs, a ‘pew pew pew’ noise sounded, and then the gun made a powering down noise as the lights faded. 

Peter had ducked, “You missed me! You will never win!” 

He pulled the treasure chest along with him, throwing stuffed animals behind him to stop Morgan. 

She squealed with laughter as they ran around the room. 

Just as Peter was about to defeat Morgan, a shout was heard from the kitchen area of the floor. 

“Kids! Snack time! Get ‘yer grub!”

Immediately, Peter dropped the treasure, a bunch of candy pieces falling out like gemstones. 

Morgan and Peter shared a look, before quickly shoving the candy back and hiding the chest under Peter’s bed. 

They both ran towards the small kitchenette where Tony was placing small colored plastic plates with carrot sticks on the small ‘kids table’. 

He smiled at the getups the two were wearing, “Saving the world huh? Superheroes need their energy so eat up.”

Morgan shook her head, sitting down on the plastic picnic table. “I’m the bad guy. Not a hero daddy.”

Tony put his hands up in fake surrender. 

“Well don’t hurt  _ me _ ! But villains need energy too kiddo.”

 

Tony watched the two kids dig into their carrot sticks, as they began to finish up, he spoke up.

“Okay guys, before  _ you _ ,” he pointed to Peter, “keep saving the world from the big bad villain, and  _ you _ ,” He pointed a finger at his own daughter, “Keep continuing your evil plans, I want you guys to help clean up.”

Morgan pouted but Peter lit up. 

“Can I wash the dishes daddy?” 

Tony nodded, slightly surprised. “Sure Petey, Morgan hon, can you wash the table please?” 

Morgan grabbed a washcloth, and by the time she had started washing, the sink was full of warm sudsy water. 

Peter happily played around with the water, scrubbing the brightly colored plastic plates and bowl. 

Morgan straightened up after washing the table. 

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did Peter call you daddy?”

Tony opened his mouth to say he didn’t really know, but Peter answered for him. 

“Cuz he gives me hugs and he loves me and he does all the stuff in the daddy book.”

Morgan made a face, but she shrugged. “Okay, we can share him. He’s both our dads now.”

Tony smiled at the kids’ train of thought. Outside, he kept himself composed, but on the inside he was melting, already realizing Morgan  _ and _ Peter had him wrapped around their small fingers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for your input and kudos and everything!! I'm so shook that people like this story and I'm so glad you do! Sorry, this was kinda late, I wanted to post earlier but I had to write out chapter four before I post chapter three just to make sure I've always got something to post! :D Happy Interneting!!


	5. Chapter 4,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's wondering where their favorite web-slinging superhero is, and when Tony goes out to confront the slew of reporters outside the compound, Peter thinks he's being taken away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay hi! So I've got some announcements to make. Firstly, I somehow have actually been busy, which is SUPER rare for me (I'm sooo socially awkward and don't get out much, I like it that way though) but somehow I literally had plans every day of this past week, and have more this upcoming week or this week, whatever. Point is, I'm busy. Which means I haven't had much time to write, so I posted this chapter, and I am still working on chapter 5. However, I'm not super focused on this story at the moment, because I saw Far From Home. And now I have SO MANY ideas for a new story, which I started writing (facepalm, I suck at staying on one task) But I will continue working on this story and publishing it and everything. Thank you all so much for reading it and commenting and everything it makes me so happy omg ok I'm done, you can read the story now lol

Tony was asleep on the couch, the tv on in front of him. 

The voices of various newscasters filled the room. Over in his room, Peter was sound asleep, curled up with his cape blanket. Three floors above them, Morgan and Pepper were also sound asleep. 

Steve, walking into the common area after a late night workout, was surprised to see Tony still sitting on the couch. 

Walking forward and carefully placing his punching bags on the ground, Steve discovered that the other man was asleep. 

He sighed, quietly grabbing the remote, moving to turn the tv off. 

The newscaster stopped him though. What she was saying caught his ear, making him freeze, eyes fixed on the tv. 

“Upon a more somber note, Spider-Man has been declared missing. He hasn’t shown his face since an attack at Midtown High, and no one has spotted the famous wall-crawler in those five days since the incident.”

Steve paled. After being around Peter for so long, he had forgotten he was, or had also been, Spider-Man. 

Shaking Tony awake, he turned the volume up a bit.  

“Tony, Tony wake up. We’ve got an issue.”

Tony grunted, rubbing a hand over his face, “Whaz-goin’ on?” 

Steve shushed him and pointed to the tv. 

“-The absence of Spider-Man and his protection has sparked a new slew of petty crime. In the last three days, robberies and muggings have increased. We cannot tell if this is because criminals are taking advantage of our missing hero, or of these are the kinds of things Spidey stops on the daily. Now, onto other news-“

Tony, now fully awake, groaned. “We have to figure out a cover story and-“

But Steve wasn’t listening. His eyes were glued to the tv still. Without looking at Tony, he slapped the man to get his attention. 

“-What Mr. America?”

But Steve continued to stare. 

Tony followed his gaze, his blood running cold upon seeing the image on screen. 

The newscaster continued. 

“Now for our daily missing person’s report. Michael Wellington, age 7, he went missing this night around 45th street. Police are already searching. Anne Fern, age 28, this young lady went missing earlier today, having got on a train and not come off-“

Steve and Tony weren’t listening. They were staring at the list of pictures of the missing persons. Fourth in line was... 

“-Peter Parker, age 16, he has been missing since the attack on his high school, Midtown High. He was last seen that day during his school’s assembly. Teachers have reported seeing him slip off during the commotion.”

Steve ran a hand down his face. 

“This is bad. This is bad, Tony.”

-

The next morning the entire Internet had theories about where Spider-Man was. Serious fans of the hero were already piecing together what Spidey might look like under the mask in order to help find him. 

Of course, with the power of thousands of worried fans, they figured out that there was a missing person fitting the Spider-Man description. 

Peter Parker. 

-

Peter woke up in his bunk bed to Pepper quietly saying good morning and running a hand through his hair. 

“Morning sweetie, ready for breakfast? Wanda’s making pancakes.”

Peter was up in a flash, scrambling down his ladder and rushing to the door. 

Before he ran out, he stopped and looked at Pepper. 

“Can I bring a toy?” 

He asked so innocently. And yet the question was asked with such seriousness that Pepper would have believed that bringing a toy to breakfast was the key to saving the world. His big brown eyes were pleading as if he  _ needed  _ a toy with him at breakfast. 

Pepper didn’t see why not, “Sure Peter, but bring one we can wash if they get dirty okay?” 

“Okay!”

He rushed and grabbed a smaller version of mjolnir, carrying it triumphantly to the table. 

Morgan was already sitting down, Wanda entertaining her with her magic, making the pancake batter mix itself, or the plastic silverware set themselves on the table. 

“Hey Peter, here’s a pancake for you, here’s one for you Morgan.”

Plastic plates flew over and set themselves down in front of the kids. 

Peter was so amazed, “Magic! Magic! You did magic!”

Wanda laughed, light and happy, “Yeah sleepyhead, magic. I can show you more after you guys eat.”

Morgan and Peter dug into their pancakes, Peter smiling and giggling when he saw a chocolate chip smiley face in his food. 

Once Pepper was out of the room, Wanda put a finger to her lips and slipped both kids a small handful of chocolate chips. 

-

As the day went on, more and more theories of Spider-Man spread around like wildfire. 

Suddenly there were people on the streets searching themselves and calling out for Peter’s name. 

Tony and his advisors were baffled. They didn’t know if they should respond to everything, which would confirm Peter’s identity, or to stay silent, which would raise suspicion. 

Eventually, they decided to just explain everything. 

Tony set up a live press conference. 

“Hello everyone. You’re all here to hear our statement about Spider-Man and him being missing. I regretfully cannot assure you that Spidey is still here. He’s not dead, just, different. You see, during the attack on Midtown High, Spidey swooped in and he and I were attacked. The attackers managed to use our prototype time machine to deage Spider-Man. He’s now a toddler and we don’t see any way of reversing it.”

Immediately, he was bombarded with questions. 

“Why was the machine there at all?”

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Where is Spidey now?” 

“Over here! How old is he now?”

“Will we see any more of Spider-Man?”

“Is Queens safe?”

Tony held up his hands and the crowd quieted.

“The machine was there for a presentation. The kids at Midtown are geniuses, learning about time travel is their thing. Spider-Man is safe right now, he’s about three,” 

Tony felt himself grow proud when he said that. Talking about the toddler upstairs was a great pastime of his now. 

“We’re unsure of his role as Spider-Man just yet, as we don‘t know if he will continue being Spider-Man when he’s old enough, and yes, Queens is safe. We will be sending out some other heroes to keep everything in check until we can figure out a more stable solution.”

 

-

 

Back inside, Peter had his face pressed to the glass of his floor to ceiling windows. 

He was staring down at the massive crowd of reporters and news stations swarming the building. 

Of course, he didn’t know who they were, he just saw Tony step outside to talk with them, holding his hands up for quiet. But to a slightly scared three year old, the motion looked more like a surrendering gesture. Maybe all the people out there are aliens! Or pirates! Or pirate aliens!

Peter gasped, looking away, thinking Tony was being taken away. 

He grabbed his Bucky bear and buried his face in the soft plush. 

Crawling to the corner of the room, he cried. He didn’t want Tony to get taken away! Tony was nice, and he gave Peter good big bear hugs, and he made funny faces, and he snuggled with him, and he played with him, and he gave him piggy back rides and-

By now, Peter was howling, which of course sent practically every person on the floor at the moment  _ sprinting _ to make sure he was alright. 

Natasha, who had just returned from a short workout, was closest. 

She ran into the room, wildly searching for the threat. 

When she found none, and reminded herself sometimes kids just cry, she took a deep breath. 

Remembering what Clint has shown her with his own kids, Nat crouched down and spoke softly. 

“Peter? Honey what happened?”

Upon hearing a familiar voice, Peter’s cries quieted, and he yelled out, “They’re gonna take away daddy!”

The sobs continued, and Peter shoved his face deeper into the plush bear. 

Natasha was confused, and getting worried something was wrong with Tony, but then Peter got up and pointed to the window, where all the reporters were yelling at said billionaire in question. 

Natasha understood, and softly said, “Peter, come here.”

He obeyed, face still half buried in the bear as he walked towards Natasha’s open arms. 

She wrapped him in a hug, rubbing his back and kissing the top of his head. 

Again keeping images of Clint and his kids in her head, she scooped Peter up and brought him to the windows. 

She spoke softly and slowly, not wanting to scare Peter, and leaving room for him to ask questions while she explained.

“Tony’s alright, look, Peter, those people down there are called reporters. It’s their job to figure out what’s going on in the world. Right now, Tony’s telling them stuff, so they’re all asking questions and listening to him.”

Peter peeked over his bear, “Why was daddy putting his hands up though?”

Tony did so again, and Peter gasped, snuggling into Natasha. 

She chuckled. “That’s just him telling everyone to be quiet. He’s okay Peter.”

The little boy nodded, sniffling slightly. He dragged a fist across his eyes, wiping away his tears. 

Natasha just held him for a moment, she realized she quite liked kids, especially kids like Peter. She could see why other people liked them so much. 

-

After Peter’s small freak out, Natasha had stayed and played with him for a while, and when he finally got tired, she put him down for a nap. 

Leaving the room, Natasha found that nearly every Avenger in the Compound at the moment were all sitting lounging around on the couches. 

Clint turned to her and gave a thumbs up as she walked in. 

Later, the two friends would talk, Natasha would tell Clint about her encounter with Peter, and he would beam, telling her how well she had handled it, and how she was getting better at loving other people. 


	6. Chapter 5, Addressing The Press

The press were still dissatisfied, they needed to  _ see  _ Spider-Man to believe that he really was a toddler. (Being toddler-ifiedd is a pretty odd reason for a superhero to be out of commission, even for MCU New York) 

Tony had been the one to address them all in the past, and today was no different. 

He had woken up with a groan to hear Pepper telling him “You  _ have  _ to go out and talk to those people, they’re swarming the building and it’s getting dangerous.”

He had rubbed his eyes, ridding them of sleep, and pulled on a suit. 

Walking down to the front of the Compound where the people were banging on the doors, Tony passed Peter’s room. 

He flashed the kid a little smile, and chuckled to himself when Peter dropped his toys after spotting Tony, smiling a big smile back and making his Bucky bear wave. 

-

“Where is Spider-Man Stark? Are you hiding him!”

“Is it true that Spider-Man is allegedly Peter Parker? And that you have grown close to the boy in the past years?”

“Stark! Is it true that you have given Parker special treatment in the past because he is Spider-Man?” 

Tony was kind of speechless, he didn’t expect questions about Peter to be coming up, then again, he hadn’t expected people to find out Peter’s identity. 

He did what he usually did and began answering questions. 

“I’ve answered the ‘where is Spiderman’ question already, so you know the answer.”

Deciding to skip over the topic of ‘is peter Spider-Man’, Tony replied to the next question with, “I have grown close to the kid, yeah, Peter’s smart and a good worker. He’s really fun to work with. And yes, we have grown closer in the past years.”

The press pushed further. 

“Where is Peter Parker?”

“Are you close enough to him to know why he is not at school?”

“Why are you not looking for Parker if he’s missing?”

Tony sighed, he realized it would be impossibly hard to leave this crowd of people without giving away Peter’s identity. 

He glanced at one of his agents, who was currently talking to the rest of the Avengers about the situation so they could help come up with a solution, or in this case, understand why Tony had to do this. 

The agent looked at Tony and nodded, telling him via earpiece that it was alright to spill the beans. 

-

Tony turned to the sea of reporters and held up his hands for silence. 

In record time, the people fell completely silent, they could tell Tony was about to tell them exactly what they wanted. 

The truth was about to come out. 

-

“I have lots of important things to say right now. So I want  _ quiet _ . The whole time. No questions, no bursts of accusations, none, zip, nada.”

“Now, firstly, Peter Parker is currently in this building, he has been missing for a good reason.  _ Not _ that I’m experimenting on him, because we’re  _ not _ living some shitty horror movie.”

“He’s up there because he is now a toddler, and we, as in The Avengers and I, along with Peter’s guardian, have decided that this was the safest option.”

Upon hearing that Peter was deaged and now a toddler, the crowd got the message. 

The world knew that beneath the mask, Spider-Man, was Peter Parker.

Tony continued on, knowing full well that his audience was dying to report everything. 

“I have some things I’d like to say.”

“You sir, are you live right now?” 

He had turned to a camera man, who nodded, panning the camera up at Tony’s face. 

“Good.”

He cleared his throat, took off his glasses, and stared right into the camera. 

“If anyone. And I mean  _ anyone  _ feels that they now need to know all about me and my family. You need to listen up.”

“You don’t need to know. This is my business and my business only. Peter Parker is currently like a son to me, and if anyone here threatens him, or scares him, you’re gonna have me to go through.”

“Oh, and by the way, this kid, he’s being raised by Earth's Mightiest Heroes. So don’t even think about attacking, because I know someone out there is plotting to do that because it’ll be the ‘greatest crime ever’ or whatever. But no, we will pummel you. Each and every avenger.”

“So don’t even  _ think _ ,” he spat, “about coming in and screwing with our family.”

Now, Tony turned to the reporters. Venom still dripping from his mouth.

“That applies to you also. If you continue to bother me and my family by overstepping boundaries, you will be on the Avengers’ and my bad side. And Pepper Potts’ bad side. Which I can guarantee you  _ do not _ want.”

-

With the press pretty much taken care of, Tony walked back inside, leaving a slightly terrified, and completely silent gaggle of reporters in his wake. His temper, which hadn’t risen much, was already calming down. 

Once he crossed the threshold, Steve, Natasha, May and Pepper ran in. 

“I told the press about Peter.”

Steve nodded, “We know. It was the right call to make.” He put a reassuring hand on Tony’s back.

May spoke up, “We actually watched your whole speech, nice wording.”

Tony bowed, taking Pepper’s hand into his own, “Where’s the spider baby?”

-

“Peter come  _ on  _ it's one o’clock, you have to take a nap.”

Peter shook his head no, staring the ex-Winter Soldier down. 

“Peter,” Bucky pleaded, he had been trying to get this kid to go to bed for an hour. So far, the now four year old was in his bed. Not sleeping.

“I need a story.”

Bucky ran a hand down his face. 

This was exhausting. 

“Fine.”

Peter sat up straight, pulling his blankets up to his chin.

“There once was a little boy named Peter. He was a great kid, y’know? He was super nice, and he had superpowers.”

Peter’s eyes were shining as he settled down under the blankets. 

“And one day, Peter was being babysat by the best uncle in the world, Uncle B-“

“Clint!” 

Peter yelled, a big grin on his face, not knowing what Bucky was about to say. 

“Right, yeah,  _ Clint _ . And Clint put Peter down for a nap. And Peter went to bed.”

Bucky got up, swiftly turned out the light, and was about to close the door when Peter complained. 

“He-ey, that’s not a real story.”

“Yeah it is. Ask Steve, I told it to him when we were little. Goodnight.”

With that, he closed the door softly and stayed there. Only when a minute passed and Peter didn’t attempt breaking out (as he had done before) did Bucky return to the living room. 

Just as he walked in, the elevator opened to reveal May, Steve, Pepper, Natasha, and Tony. 

The latter of which looked quite distraught, “He’s with  _ who _ ?!”

Steve kicked Tony, both men unaware that Bucky was standing right there. 

They looked up and Bucky waved a little. “He’s asleep right now, so everyone be quiet. It took me forever to get him to bed.”

There was an awkward pause, Tony obviously wasn’t over the moon that Bucky had been the one babysitting, but he knew better than to make a big deal. 

“Thanks James,” he nodded to Bucky, “I appreciate you watching him. He can be a handful sometimes.” Bucky chuckled. 

“Yeah, he can.” 

There was another slight pause, before Bucky looked up at Tony. 

“You can call me Bucky if you want, we’re friends now so,” he trailed off, ignoring Steve’s encouraging smile from behind Tony’s back. 

Tony surprised himself by smiling. 

“Okay Bucky.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay explanation time. Firstly, I’m sorry for not uploading in an actual month. That’s a long time. Lots of things started happening, I was doing backstage crew for a summer musical at my school, then a ton of drama started with a girl I’m ‘friends’ with. I think I fell into a depression again? Honestly, I’m not sure, but enough of my life story! Here’s the deal, originally I was writing this story along the plot of “Peter is deaged and it’s irreversible.” But I’ve gotten comments about people speculating when Peter gets changed back. So I plan on trying to keep it “Peter is growing up with the Avengers” but if you guys want him changed back soon we can to that too. Please tell me though, I won’t know unless you speak up XD. Yet another note, I’m kind of bad at this whole plot thing for this story, and so I was thinking the story would branch off into more of a one shot path, however, again, please speak up if you disagree. Finally, I am sorry again for not uploading in forever, please let me know if you would prefer a specific way for this story to go, if I don’t really get responses I’m just going to dive more into the whole mini story chapter things.


	7. Chapter 6, A Day at the Lakehouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony takes Peter and Morgan to the lakehouse for some fresh air. Some other heroes come along for the fun, and a fun-filled night of s' mores and barbeque ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all!
> 
> I'm so sorry, I literally haven't updated for FOREVER. I have a ton of reasons as to why, and won't bother you with telling them. 
> 
> The important thing is that I have been trying to write as much as I could. This (very long and not very organized or well-made) chapter is literally the best thing I could write since I last updated. 
> 
> I have a plan for this story (I promise) I'm just having a lot of trouble finding time to write.
> 
> My apologies again, this chapter is not very good. I plan on reading it through and fixing it up when I can, but I feel so bad for not updating so I decided to go with what I've got and fix it up later. 
> 
> Please enjoy! I plan to write some winter holiday content, (I'm thinking of some Christmas content without the religious stuff)

Peter had been deaged for about 3 or 4 months now, and he had spent the entirety of his time as a toddler in the Compound.

Pepper and May wanted to change that fact and organized a weekend off out by the lake. Peter and Morgan could get fresh air, and so could the heroes.

It was settled and made to be a surprise for the kids. Tony packed Morgan and Peter a bag each, and in the morning told them that they were going grocery shopping.

"But dad," Morgan pouted, wanting to play with Peter, not go shopping, "can't someone else go? I wanna stay here!" Her whining thankfully didn't spread to Peter, who was bouncing up and down with excitement.

Tony had tried choosing a location that the kids wouldn't want to go to, as to not disappoint them when they didn't actually go there. But Peter seemed thrilled, either to go grocery shopping or just to get out of the Compound Tony didn't know.

Pepper had already gone down to the lake house that morning with May and Bucky. They were all fixing it up and planned to have lunch ready when the kids arrived, it was Tony's job to bring the kids and some other heroes over.

"Alright, the kids are ready, but we're missing some people." He straightened up and exaggerated looking around the room, eliciting a giggle from Peter. "Now where's Cap, Nat, and Birdbrain? Oh, and Birdbrain #2?"

"We're here Tony." Cap was standing in the doorway with Natasha. Both had packed bags for the weekend.

Natasha took Steve's bag and threw both his and hers into the trunk of the SUV.

"Clint decided to spend the weekend with his family, and Sam decided to stay. He says someone needs to be here while so many of us are gone."

Tony nodded, slipping into the driver's seat and buckling in.

Steve day in the passenger seat, leaving Natasha to sit in the middle row with Morgan, with Peter in his car seat in the single-seat behind the girls.

"And we're off!" Tony said, pulling out of the Compound's driveway, "We'll be at the car wash in no time!"

"The grocery store dad."

"Right Morgan, the grocery store!"

*

The lakehouse was about an hour away, and Morgan soon got very bored.

"Are we there yet dad?"

"Nope sugarplum, we're close though. About 30 minutes to go."

"But the grocery store is close! Where are we going!" She pouted, squirming around in her car seat.

Natasha spoke up, gaining Morgan and Peter's attention instantly.

"We're going to a special grocery store. It's far away. We can pass the time by playing games though, huh?"

Morgan nodded enthusiastically. She loved playing games with Natasha and Steve, they had the best game ideas.

"Eye spy!" Peter yelled from the back.

"Yeah!" Morgan joined in.

"Okay, okay. Who wants to start?"

*

15 minutes of Eye Spy later found the car singing along to Disney songs.

Surprisingly, Steve and Tony knew more songs than Morgan, and Natasha had a crazy good singing voice. Peter was singing too, and he was having an absolute blast. He was laughing more than he was singing as Steve changed his voice to sing different characters parts.

(Ok hear me out, Cap belting out the "When I was a young wartho-og!" And Tony joining in super high pitched, "when he was a young wartho-og!")

All too soon they arrived at the lakehouse.

"This isn't the grocery store!" Morgan yelled, unbuckling herself and running outside.

"Yeah!" Peter joined in, trying to copy Morgan and unbuckle himself.

Natasha leaned over and took him out of the car seat herself, and watched fondly as Peter ran off, trying to catch up with Morgan.

*

The lawn had been decorated with fairy lights, they hung from the porch roof and the trees, sparkling in the midday sunlight. There was a fire pit off to the side where coolers of beer were pushed up against the side of the house. The back patio was crammed with camping chairs and pool floaties for the lake. There were swings tied up on high branches in the trees, and Bucky was currently hanging up a tire swing over the lake.

Peter and Morgan were running around, chasing one another and laughing.

Tony went and sat down around the fire pit, stopping to kiss Pepper on the cheek and thank her for setting up.

May came out of the house with a plate of burger patties, "Oh! Is everyone here?" Tony nodded, thanking her for setting up.

Just as she set down the plate of patties, requesting that someone grill them at some point, a certain superhuman child spotted May from across the lawn.

Peter stopped running, making Morgan almost crash into him, but before she could complain, Peter was off again. He sprinted towards May, "Auntie May! Auntie May!"

His little face broke into a grin as he ran up and hugged her.

Slightly caught off guard by Peter's enthusiasm, May picked him up and hugged him back, "Well hello there mister. What'cha up to?"

Before Peter could launch into a full-blown description of what he had been doing, Morgan ran up to May and Peter, wearing a black hero mask and holding out another.

"Hey, Peter lets play heroes!"

Peter gasped out of excitement, squirming to be let down.

May chuckled and let him go, watching as he snatched the little mask from Morgan. The two children ran off, chasing some make-believe villain around the lawn.

*

While Peter and Morgan tired themselves out, screaming and playing all sorts of games, the adults were sitting around the fire pit.

There was a small trickle of chatter going, but it soon died out. The group of adults were all very comfortable, and honestly, the kids were much better entertainment than talking.

Around 5 o'clock, Tony got up and disappeared inside the house.

He came out a few minutes later with seasoned hamburger patties and a plate of uncooked hot dogs.

"Alright! Who wants what?"

*

"Two burgers for Cap, two for Bucky, one for Nat, a hotdog for me, a burger for May, a burger and a kiss for Pep, and hotdogs for the kiddos!"

Peter and Morgan ran towards Tony and the others, practically falling over one another to get to their food.

Tony chuckled and made sure everyone was settled before sitting down himself.

The sun was beginning to set as everyone ate.

Peter had migrated with his half-eaten hotdog onto Bucky's lap, and Morgan was on Tony's shoulders, trying very hard not to spill ketchup on her dad's head again.

Bucky and Steve were telling stories of the war, in a kid-friendly way of course.

As the sun set and the air around them grew cooler, the kids started to get tired. Their long day of excitement and playing had finally caught up to them.

Tony got up from the campfire, Morgan still perched happily on his shoulders, and disappeared inside the house.

There was a shriek of excitement and a few moments later Tony returned with a bag of recently opened marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, and skewers for the fire. Morgan was giggling behind the marshmallow Tony had snuck her.

Peter looked up in awe at the bag of marshmallows and bounced with excitement when Tony slipped him one as he walked past.

The adults smiled at the kids' excitement and proceeded to start helping make s' mores.

Tony and Steve were on roasting duty, as the kids couldn't be trusted near the fire, or with their own skewers.

Natasha was on chocolate and assembly, while May and Pepper were handing out the finished s' mores and guarding the ingredients.

Bucky was quite honestly enjoying himself just as much as the kids. He loved the gooey s' mores and was nearly as covered in melted chocolate and marshmallow as Peter.

As the night died down, the kids' fun-filled day began to take its toll on them.

Morgan was passed to her mom to be taken inside, as she was practically drifting off already. There was an attempt to pass a still awake but sleepy-eyed Peter from Bucky's lap to Steve's, as Bucky claimed Steve was more cuddly than the guy with a metal arm.

Peter resisted though, and clutched onto Bucky instead, nuzzling into his sweater and mumbling something about being too tired and comfy to move.

Tony stood up, helping clean up the plates and such from their barbecue. Natasha took the dishes from Tony and took them inside, nodding in the direction of a sleeping May.

Steve put out the fire and helped clean up while Bucky followed Pepper into the house.

"Follow me, James, I'll show you where to put Peter."

Bucky nodded, trying to be as careful as possible while holding Peter, not wanting to wake him up, as the little kid had just drifted off.

Morgan was asleep, her head resting on her mom's shoulder, and she didn't wake when Pepper put her in bed.

Bucky watched carefully, and when it came time for him to lay Peter down in a guest bedroom, he copied what Pepper had done.

Laying Peter down and then carefully letting him go, making sure he was comfortable, Bucky smiled.

He had grown pretty attached to the kid, he wasn't gonna lie.

Pepper put her hand on his shoulder, looking down at Peter as well.

"I somehow feel like he's my kid, even though he's not." Pepper said, smiling softly.

"Yeah, me too."

Pepper was surprised by the display of feelings, and patted Bucky good-naturedly on the shoulder, "I think everyone does, even Morgan."

With that, she left the room, Bucky following behind her.

*

'Well, the kids are all in bed and asleep, except for this one, whose not in his bed."

Pepper jabbed her thumb towards a sleeping Tony on the couch.

Steve chuckled, "are you sure you don't need any help cleaning up Pepper?"

She shook her head, "you guys get on your way, it's like eleven, I don't want to keep you up."

She waved for May to follow her to the guest room as Natasha, Steve and Bucky drove off.

Within the hour, the big lake house was filled with sleeping people.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I've never used AO3 before sooooo.  
> Tell me what you think!! :D


End file.
